The Tennessee Titans have been one of the healthiest teams in the NFL through the summer and into the first month of the regular season.

That luck ran out Sunday at a rainy MetLife Stadium, where rookie starting right guard Fernando Carmona went down on the first offensive snap from scrimmage with an ankle injury. Now with even more bad news on Monday morning, the Titans may be staring at their first real injury crisis of 2026, and it hits at one of the most delicate spots on the roster.

A tough double loss at the worst time

Carmona had banged up his shoulder the week prior but was cleared and good to go for the Week 3 matchup, so this ankle injury on their first snap was unrelated to his preview ailment. He was ruled questionable during the game and then officially ruled out around halftime.

Luckily, the Titans had second-year swing interior lineman Jackson Slater waiting in the wings to play the rest of the game. And he played well! The entire offensive line played well and deserves a lot of credit in this otherwise terrible loss. Tennessee allowed just three total pressures and zero sacks in this game, and this unit has been solid and consistent through three weeks.

But then Monday morning, Robert Saleh volunteered at the beginning of his presser that Slater was dealing with a “pretty significant” foot injury. There was no update on Slater nor Carmona yet as both were still being evaluated.

A source tells me that the foot injury was sustained on the second drive of the game, and Slater finished the rest of the game playing through it.

When a coach volunteers that a previously-unknown injury is “significant”, that creates a fair assumption that Slater won’t be available at least for the near future. So what now?

The backup options aren’t inspiring

The only other backup guard currently on the Titans active roster is Atonio Mafi, a name you will be forgiven for not knowing anything about. He was claimed off waivers from the Las Vegas Raiders on Sept. 11, just before the season began. Mafi was a 2023 5th-round pick who has bounced around the league, and there’s no telling what kind of position he’s in right now to handle a spot start. There’s also Garrett Dellinger, who has been on and off the Titans roster for some time. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him get some runs at practice this week.

Beyond those two, a mystery option could emerge from the waiver wire or the free agent pool. I also won’t be surprised if you hear people bringing up the idea of Kevin Zeitler returning in a spot-start role. I have no clue if that’s something he’d be interested in doing or if he’s even in playing shape, though. That question also depends entirely on how long the Titans think they’ll be without Carmona.

Carmona’s injury seems to be the less significant of the two right now based on coach Robert Saleh’s comments, but that’s just an assumption at this point. There’s no real clarity yet.

If you’re sitting there thinking none of these backup options sound attractive, you’re right! The Titans need one of these two injured young guards, two guys they have a lot of faith in, to have better injury news than feared and be available sooner than expected. Because what has been an otherwise strong offensive line could have a real problem spot on its hands all of a sudden, and that impacts one of the more delicate situations on this team: offensive efficiency and the quarterback’s… shaky progress.